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.411 Too Familiar Murder Trial in Colquitt, GeorgiaBy Howard Beaafaitwerful man in the county. Robert sheriff’s sister’s farm.Jest grew up on theColquitt isn't much of a town. Normally it is a drowsy, \N APPROACHING CAR, driven hv Jest, failed to dimnondescript farm community in southwest Georgia, close to his headlights The white man swung his car around inthe Alabama line. angry pursuit. A witness in Merritt’s car testified at a pret-. .. . rial hearing:Motorists taking Route 39 south pass through the town without realizing they have been there. But one of these “Well, we was going down (he highway and met this car you damn black son of a bitch, I’ll blow your brains out.JEST SAID: “The Sheriff looked at my father (who accompanied him to the jailhousei and said, ‘Get out of heredays they will.The eligible voting population is 2,651. And 36 pet cent of hydrogen tank and then stopped him.and he didn’t dim his lights and so Don turned around and went back and started following him and pulled up behindf *that is black, but only 10 per cent or 193 are registered tovoteI NLESS SOMETHING unforseen happens a murder trial will soon move into the white-columned Miller County Courthouse and the eyes of the nation will be focused on it.i acuu i uv; wvi* linn, mu i u tut v wcii’ii I i waa ouj i \ titA black man is accused of killing a white man. Colquitt is (Merritt 1 said, T’m going to teach you to dim your damnin danger of being jerked into the national spotlight as acourt of injustice.Out-of-town reporters have begun to arrive, asking ques- JEST LATER TOLD reporters in the jailhouse that Mer-With his car blocking Jest’s, Merritt got out and approached the Negro who remained seated in his car. The street was deserted and dark.Jest recalled: “He asked me could I dim my damn lights.1 said they were dim. but if they weren’t I was sorry. He Two young attorneys agreed to defend Robert Jest, butL dCl b ... ..a AJudge W. I. Greer, who denied bail to the black defendant, was an uncle of the prosecutor and like the prosecutor, also a distant cousin of the victim of the shooting.The prosecutor, Peter Zack Greer was a leader of the unsuccessful movement to bar Julian Bond, a black activist, from his seat in the Georgia Legislature.lights, you black son of a bitch.’ He was steady cussing.”they said the odds are heavily weighed against the possibility of getting a fair trial, even though Jest acted in self-defense.THE DEFENSE LAWYERS say Georgia law provides fortions, making notes on the anatomy of this crime in the ritt opened the door of his car and tried to drag him out. “I ' arawine a list'of nrosnective erand furors and“ * u/a« srarpd I HiHn’t knnu, u;hat vinH nf onvc thpv wpt-p eacn county drawing a list of prospective grand jurors anaDeep South.These facts are uncontested:was scared. 1 didn’t know what kind of guys they were, coming up on me like that. He was acting like a wild man or something, like he was going crazy.”trial jurors at random from persons eligible to vote. But it the jury commissioners are not satisfied with the list of jurors they may supplement it with persons they considerNjl x .,-i M i * 1141 ua o vitv ourr uRobert Lee Jest, 23, a soft-spoken Negro tenant farmer, jesl jie reacjielt;j under the seat for a .22 pistol, then “intelligent and upright citizens.father of four, awaits trial for his life. It is alleged he deliberately shot and killed Robert Ladon Merritt, 20, who was not by Colquitt standards an ordinary white man. He was related in some way to almost everybody who runs the town and consequently will run the trial.Last June 21, a Sunday near midnight, Merritt and two young male companions were driving into town with a supply of beer in the back seat.fired it twice into the ground. “The white man grappled for the gun and it went off again.”Merritt died shortly after at the Miller County Hospital. The attending physician was his foster uncle, Dr. Hinton J. MerrittRobert Jest and his father both said that by “picking all over the county you might find two or three jurors who would be fair.”The defense attorneys know that among the grand jurorswho iadicted Jest for mwarier of Robert Merritt there was aJustice moved swiftly. Jest was arrested at his home by man named W. B. Rentz who is widely known as the deadMerritt’s grandfather, Sheriff Felix Tabb, 65, the most po- man’s uncle by marriage.
Newspaper Details
Willoughby News Herald
Willoughby, Ohio, US
Wed, Feb 24, 1971
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Austin C.
TX, USA 08 Jun 2020
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Willoughby News Herald
